Going out of business sales started Friday at the 31 remaining Joe’s Sports & Outdoors after the bankruptcy court in Delaware approved a liquidation sale of all of the Northwest retailer’s merchandise.  In the end, there were no suitors that would buy the retailer as a going concern and it was picked up by Gordon Brothers Group, which specializes in such liquidations.

“This historical event will mark the end of an era,” said Thomas Lonabocker, a principal at Gordon Brothers Group in a release. “Consumers will find great values on all merchandise at every store location. Those who arrive first will be able to choose from the broadest selection.”

Gordon Brothers, in partnership with a private investment firm, reportedly beat out Great American Group and Hilco Merchant Resources in the bidding process for the assets. 

Gordon's initial bid before the auction started was equal to 46.3% of Joe's inventory, valued at $128.5 million retail, but the final bid jumped nearly 50% to about $61 million.

Now the jockeying for the real estate will start, with Dick’s Sporting Goods and The Sports Authority both expected to make a play for the soon-to-be-vacant stores, which could come at quite a value.

In other news related to the Joe’s Sports bankruptcy case, Worldwide Distributors, the buying group that has counted G.I. Joe’s as a Class A member since 1978, has filed suit against Wells Fargo Retail Finance and Crystal Capital Fund Management as agents and lenders in the case.  WDI suggests that G.I. Joe’s had a signed security agreement with the buying group that granted to Worldwide a security interest in all inventory and proceeds and all equipment and proceeds to secure all Joe’s direct and indirect indebtedness to Worldwide.

Worldwide claims in its suit that on February 19, 2009, Joe’s informed the buying group that unpaid Class A invoices totaled roughly $3.5 million.  WDI said it was aware of invoices in said class totaling over $7.0 million during the 90 days preceding the February 19 bankruptcy protection petition date.  The group said that on March 17, that the chief restructuring officer overseeing Joe’s, verbally told WDI president Mark Williams that the then-estimated total amount of unpaid invoices was $6.8 million to $7.0 million.  WDI has also determined that the sum of all Class B invoices the buying group had paid and was owed reimbursement by Joe’s, as well as unpaid monthly member dues, was approximately $1.7 million.  The total claim by Worldwide Distributors is “at least” $8.5 million.

For more on this story and much more, including insight and thoughts from executive from around the industry, look for this week’s issue of Sports Executive Weekly.